


Homeward bound

by wendywhite13



Series: The Belmont Family Legacy [1]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post Season 2, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, adrian will be sad but less sad, netflix wont give me a happy ending so im forced to make my own, sort of an add-on for one final episode of the season, sypha is smarter and stupider than everyone else combined
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-20 09:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 8,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16552961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendywhite13/pseuds/wendywhite13
Summary: The ending of season 2 was really upsetting, so I was forced, forced I tell you, to write a better ending instead of studying or other useful things. This takes up right after Trevor and Sypha leave Adrian. Trevor gets cold feet and returns to help Adrian while Sypha investigates Braila.For those of you who are interested, there are some illustrations for this fic on my tumblr, wendywhite13.tumblr.com.





	1. Chapter 1

The Speaker’s caravan stretched out for miles. This was a gathering, much larger than Sypha’s small group in Gresit. The sky-blue tents stretched out around the edge of the city of Braila, cheerful marquees standing out against the ruined and smoking skyline.  
Did we do that? though Trevor, watching the rising columns of smoke. Maybe when Sypha’s spell had been trying to capture the castle? This was exactly why he didn’t like magic. Too many strings, too many unforeseen consequences.  
“What are they all doing here? Isn’t it dangerous?” he asked, looking over at Sypha, who was anxiously biting her lower lip.   
“I don’t…I don’t know,” she replied. “It’s very rare for more than a few individual caravans to gather in one place. But if they’re all here at Braila, does that mean the horde has moved on?” She craned her neck to see above the tents. The destruction of the once-bustling port town was all but complete, but it was hard to tell at this distance what had caused the damage.  
Suddenly, they were interrupted by shouts and calls from all around them. Trevor’s hand leapt to the Morning Star on his hip, ready to defend them. But the din came not from demons or pitchfork-wielding villagers, but from large groups of blue-clad men and women who pored from the tents. They called Sypha’s name, and, strangely, Trevor’s, jumping and waving. Some ran up to the carriage, dropping flowers and fruits into the back, offering them canteens of water.  
“Granddaughter!” called a voice from the back. The blue wave parted as the old man Trevor had met in Gresit stepped forward. Sypha jumped out of the carriage and he scooped her up in a delighted hug.   
“We did it, grandfather!” She said breathlessly. “It worked!”  
He smiled. “We know. We felt Dracula’s death the moment it happened-felt the evil and malice depart from the world. Our scryers and soothsayers detected that the battle would begin here, so we have gathered to tend to the survivors. I…” he paused, and Trevor saw tears glinting in his eyes. “I am just so happy you have returned to us. We all are.”  
At that, he gestured behind him, where two people were jostling through the crowd. One was a short, stout woman with large, brilliant blue eyes. The other was a tall, lanky man with a mop of fiery ginger hair. Trevor chuckled. Put them together and you had one complete Sypha.  
Sypha ran to embrace her parents and Trevor watched with an odd, sinking feeling in his stomach. They looked so…warm, there, together, arms wrapped around each other. He wondered how long it had been since they had seen each other, what circumstances they had parted under. The act of reuniting made them so happy they seemed to glow. He wondered how long it had been since he had felt that light, that warmth…  
Trevor shook his head, like he was clearing away a cloud of gnats. It had been years since he’d let thoughts of his family get that far. Useless thoughts. This prolonged period of sobriety was probably the culprit. He wondered if the Speakers had any ale for their new heroes.  
As if on cue, Sypha’s grandfather turned to address them both, speaking up so the blue-robed mass around them could hear too. “There is much work to do in Braila, many people that need our assistance. But this is a historic event.” He took Sypha’s arm in one hand and grabbed Trevor’s before he could pull away. “This heroic young man, and my own beloved granddaughter have saved all of Wallachia from a terrible fate. I think, given the circumstances, we can spare the resources for a small celebration tonight.”  
A cheer went up from the assembled Speakers, and Sypha gave a delighted gasp. Trevor just sighed. There’d better be alcohol, he thought.


	2. Chapter 2

There was, indeed, alcohol, but strangely enough it seemed reluctant to enter Trevor’s mouth. It had been two hours since a handsome Speaker had given him a tankard of spiced mead, but he had yet to take a drink. Instead he sat in the corner of the big tent, watching the patterns in the reflections on the drink’s dark red surface as though he could divine the future from it. In the center of the tent, blue-clad Speakers danced and sang, telling stories of the great vampire hunters, practicing to share this new story with the world. Sypha was in the center, recounting the tale dozens of times for each new group of Speakers who wanted to talk to her. She looked like she was having the time of her life. When the party had begun, she had tried to take him with her. But the crush of people around him made Trevor feel a little nauseous. He had never been the subject of this much attention before-well, not in a good way anyway. Plus, the adoring looks of the Speakers made him feel like a fake. He didn’t care what they said. He didn’t feel heroic at all. For some reason, he felt a little like a coward.  
As he stared at the mead, his thoughts kept drifting back to his old house, and to the castle that now stood on top of it. And to the person who was currently living there. He hadn’t felt…particularly conflicted about leaving Alucard before. He was actually a little relieved to be rid of him-hell, the little shit had flipped him off when they last spoke. But he kept looking around him, at the merry Speakers, who were all family in a way, so close, who seemed to glow with the light of their love for each other. And he kept thinking back to that dark, empty castle, with only Alucard and his memories in it. It seemed so cold. It turned his stomach to think about, though he wasn’t exactly sure why.  
He did know, in a way, what it was like to live in that empty castle. His home for the last few years had been less of a fancy fortress and more along the lines of abandoned buildings and caves, but it had been no less empty. How long had he been wandering alone, since his family had been murdered? The days seemed to melt into each other, into one cold, dark expanse. And now, he realized, that was exactly what Alucard was heading into, in that castle all alone. While he was sitting here on his ass getting free booze from Sypha’s family, even though he knew exactly what Alucard was going through. He was right to feel like a coward.  
“Fuck,” he grunted, getting to his feet. He handed the tankard of mead to a delighted Speaker and rubbed his temples. What was he getting into here? Alucard was…well, his comrade but not exactly his friend. In the short time they’d known each other Alucard had taken every opportunity to belittle and antagonize him. He didn’t really seem to have much in the way of feelings at all. Maybe the half-vampire wasn’t nearly as upset about this as Trevor thought. Maybe he’d just get pissed when Trevor showed up at his door and eat him or something. This was a bad idea, thought Trevor as he waded his way through the Speakers, looking for Sypha. Definitely shouldn’t do it. Hell if he wasn’t going to do it anyway.  
Sypha had disappeared from the main floor, and he was just about to step outside to look for her when she reentered the tent right in front of him, holding a large rucksack. Her face lit up when she saw him and she hurried over to him. Shit, he thought, he hadn’t even decided how he was going to tell her. She would be crushed.  
He shifted awkwardly as she approached, his face growing hot. “Sypha, I, uh…” How should he say it? He stumbled over the words. “Sypha…I’ve got to…”  
“You’ve got to go back,” she said suddenly, and he looked up in surprise. She stared at him, not with sadness as he had expected, but a strange look that could almost have been pride. Motioning him towards her, she put the rucksack in his hands and he realized it was packed with his supplies. “I’m glad you think so too.”  
“Ah…um. Thanks,” mumbled Trevor awkwardly, waiting for his brain to catch up with this new turn of events. “Um…why?”  
Sypha looked down at her feet. “I was thinking about what you told me earlier. In the Belmont hold. You know…how no one was ever lonely in your house.” She gave a little half smile. “When it was the three of us there, that was so comforting. But…now it’s just the one of us left there. And he is one of us, isn’t he?”  
Trevor gulped and nodded. The image of Alucard, walking alone like a ghost through the halls his family had once shared, came unbidden to his mind and his stomach gave another unpleasant little flip.  
“He’s maddeningly hard to read,” Sypha continued. “But I don’t think it was a good idea after all to leave him there alone. I don’t think he’s really ok, no matter what he says.”  
“Should we leave tonight, then?” Sypha’s words had made Trevor’s little bad feeling seem suddenly urgent. But and odd expression crossed Sypha’s face, and she shook her head quickly. “No, I…” she looked around quickly as if she was searching for something to say. “My…my people are here. And I’ve been talking to my grandfather…there’s so much damage in Braila, and they need a mage of my skills…”  
Trevor stiffened. “I’m not going to just leave you here alone! This is where the horde was. They could still be here!”  
But Sypha gave a hurried wave of her hand. “The horde is gone. My grandfather found no trace of any demons in Braila, just the destruction they left behind. Maybe…they all disappeared when Dracula died?”  
“Alucard said that wasn’t likely.” But as Trevor said it, he wasn’t really sure. A small part of him wondered if Alucard had told them the night hordes were still about in order to make them leave faster.  
“I think if this experience has shown us anything, it’s that there’s a whole lot that Alucard didn’t know about his father.” Sypha smiled, but it was an unpleasant thought. “What I do know is that he’s all alone, he’s just killed his father, and he can’t really be alright with that. He needs a friend. He needs you.”  
Trevor grunted and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to decide what to say next. True, it had been his original idea to leave alone, but he liked it less and less the more he thought about it. “What makes you think I can help him? When has he ever listened to me? I mean, Sypha, the guy practically hates me.”  
“That isn’t true at all!” Sypha said suddenly. She paused. “He…I don’t think he means the things he says, he’s just…you know…” She trailed off, leaving them to come to their own conclusions about what Alucard was. Trevor had a feeling that their answers would be very different.  
“Look, I’m not saying you have to…fix him. Just get him out of that horrible castle. Tell him we need his help in Braila. Drag him out of there by his pretty hair if you have to.”  
“Oh that’ll go wonderfully,” Trevor smirked. But he conceded. The idea of having Alucard here with them was strangely nice…if only so Trevor wouldn’t have to feel guilty about leaving him behind. That was a good reason.  
He said his goodbyes to Sypha and left the light of her family’s tent, out into the darkness once more.


	3. Chapter 3

Sypha stood at the edge of camp, listening as the sounds of Trevor’s horse grew quieter and quieter in the distance. In an unexpectedly considerate move, he had elected to leave the carriage and one of the horses with the Speaker caravan. Taking only one horse would certainly get him back to the castle faster, but Sypha wondered how he was planning to return with Alucard in tow. Maybe, she thought, Alucard could turn into a little white wolf again and trot home alongside the horse. That was a silly image, and she giggled into her hand, stopping abruptly when she heard someone behind her.   
“You’ve proven yourself a capable adult,” came the voice her grandfather, a faint note of disapproval running through it, “so I am at loathe to interfere with your personal business. But I did not tell you the horde had disappeared. I said there were no more live demons or vampires in this city. But I also said there were signs of a great battle, and rumors of vampire troops who departed after the castle disappeared. That’s…very different than what you told that boy.”  
Sypha gritted her teeth and looked away. It wasn’t a lie so much as an omission. But Speakers, those charged with the duty of retaining and retelling the world’s stories, were supposed to be honest above all else. She was a little ashamed her grandfather had overheard her manipulating the truth like that. But it needed to be done, or Trevor wasn’t going to leave.  
“The situation here is more complicated than you said,” continued her grandfather. “And there could still be a great danger waiting for us. Are you sure, Sypha, that sending away the Hunter was a good idea?”  
Sypha sighed. “No. In fact, I know that it’s a terrible idea. But, I also know that if I hadn’t done it I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”  
She turned, and surprisingly, the expression on her grandfather’s face was not anger but pride.


	4. Chapter 4

Alucard wasn’t sure how long he’d been sitting in his father’s study, watching the shadows in the doorway. The light through the window had changed…twice? Maybe three times? Yet it felt like only seconds ago he had sat down and seen the image of his mother smiling at him from the doorframe.   
There was…so much to do, so much it was hard to think about it. The front hall was filled with the corpses of vampires and demons, the upper floors had been destroyed…the Belmont hold, which he now owned, was open to the air, all that precious paper waiting to be ruined by the next rainfall. He had to fix all that-it all belonged to him now, no one else was going to do it. But he couldn’t seem to make his legs move. In his mind, he stood up and walked out of the room, into the sunlight and the future, but his body wouldn’t respond. So he sat, stock-still on his father’s old chair, watching the door, half-hoping and half-afraid that he would see his mother again.   
He was in that strange sort of half-trance when a noise echoed through the castle, startling him and forcing him to his feet. It was a soft noise, the sound of heels walking through the entrance hall, but his ears could pick it up and it turned his blood to ice. Stupid, so stupid, sitting here crying while the whole world could tell that Dracula was dead. Any number of night things could be amassing at the castle, ready to fill the power vacuum his father had left behind. With a thrill of horror, Alucard realized he hadn’t even sealed the front door. At the time, as the sun set and Trevor and Sypha left him alone, he hadn’t had the heart to seal himself up in the dark. Not yet. And now, something had walked right through.  
He called his mother’s sword to his hand and it whistled through the corridors to him, a silver blur. His hand shook as he took it. Alucard wasn’t sure if it was fear over what could be downstairs or the physical damage his father had done to him, but either way, he was not at all prepared for a fight. You have to be, he told himself. You are here alone now. His knuckles tightened on the sword’s hilt until his fingers went numb, and he ran down the stairs as quietly as he could.   
When he reached the entrance hall he stopped, leaping up to the high beams to look down at the invading force before they saw him. He breathed an unexpected sigh of relief. It was not, as he had feared, an army of the night come to take Dracula’s castle, but one lone invader. Perhaps a vampire who thought the castle was now empty, and able to be looted. Alucard almost smiled. That was a fatal mistake.   
His relief that he hadn’t accidentally ruined everything was almost palpable as he dropped down to kill the vampire. He was much less careful than he normally would have been, eager to finish off the intruder and seal the doors like he should have before-and that showed, because it was only a few feet from Trevor’s throat that he realized what he was doing and yanked the sword away. As it was, his landing shocked the vampire hunter and sent him backpedaling several feet, cursing all the while.  
“What the-Bloody hell Alucard!” gasped Trevor. “I know we haven’t…always gotten along…but that’s a bit fucking much!”  
The sword fell from Alucard’s hand as he realized in horror what he was about to do. How many of the people he cared about was he going to end up killi-no. No. It wasn’t the same. It was just a mistake. “I…I mistook you for someone else…” he said, trying to keep his voice steady. “I would never have….” He trailed off. “What are you doing here? Has something happened? Where’s Sypha?”  
The feeling of panic came back when he realized Trevor was alone. He could actually feel his heart inside his chest, beating harder and faster than a dhampir’s usually would. But Trevor didn’t look upset, or hurt. On the contrary, he looked…embarrassed. A dull red flush was rising in his neck and cheeks and he was studiously avoiding Alucard’s eyes.  
“Sypha’s fine. She’s…great actually. Back with her family. Do you know her parents look just like her?” Trevor looked up with a slight smile, saw Alucard’s incredulous face, and quickly looked back down again. “I, uh…actually came here to get you.”  
“Is…is the horde still causing trouble…?” Alucard continued. Why had the Belmont come back? He just…wanted to be alone now. Didn’t he deserve that?  
“Um, yeah-ah hell, that’s a bad lie. We think the horde is gone. I am here…” he flicked a hopeful glance towards Alucard and cleared his throat loudly. “Because I thought-I mean, Sypha thought-I mean, er, well, we both agreed that, well…”  
“That you shouldn’t be alone here.”


	5. Chapter 5

Sypha bent down until her fingertips just brushed the top of the rushing Braila river. She whispered the words of a long-forgotten language, and was rewarded when the wet, mossy stones of the embankment glowed a soft blue, then faded back to normal. Wiping her hand on her blue robes, she turned back to her grandfather.  
“It’s the same here. I don’t think there can be any doubt-the river here was blessed very recently.” Her grandfather nodded solemnly. That fit with the stories they had heard from the citizens of Braila-that the night of the attack, the river had glowed with holy blue fire and any night thing that fell into it burned and died. The question now was why?  
“I don’t understand who did it though,” Sypha huffed, frustrated. “I mean, obviously the vampires didn’t do it to themselves. And if it was humans, wouldn’t they have come forward by now? Wouldn’t they want to be known as heroes?” Her grandfather provided no answer but simply started walking along the embankment, eyes on the mysteriously holy river. Sypha trailed behind him, still talking out loud.  
“Maybe whoever did it died in the attack? But whoever had the skill and forethought to bless the entire Braila river right before the night things attacked-I don’t know, it just seems weird that no one has any idea who it was.” She looked over the edge of the river, to the empty place where the castle had stood. “And the people here aren’t… the absolute most reliable when it comes to what happened that night, but a lot of people have said that there were soldiers on both sides of the river. How did they get there if the water was blessed and all the bridges were out?”  
Suddenly, she stopped. An image had come to her mind, an image of Trevor at the party that was supposed to be in his honor, haunting a shadowy corner. She spun on her heel and turned to face the river again. “If you think you’re a hero, you want to be known as such,” she said, the understanding flashing in her eyes. “The only reason not to come forward is because you don’t think you are. Whoever…whoever blessed the river saved a lot of lives, but that wasn’t their goal.”  
Sypha paced back and forth, talking to herself. “What if it was a vampire that did it? And that’s why there were soldiers on both sides of the river. One of them was attacking the other! When we entered the castle, there was a fight going on in the entrance hall. But I was…distracted…I didn’t really think about it. But maybe what happened here was that one of Dracula’s friends betrayed him…and we just stumbled into it.”  
“That…would tend to explain much…” her grandfather said, stroking his chin. “But how does a vampire bless a river? And what happened to the betrayer?”  
“Well…I don’t know,” Sypha admitted. “Maybe…whoever it was had help. From a human, maybe even from the church.” A shiver went down her back at the idea. “I can’t say for certain, but I don’t think the betrayer was in the castle-it doesn’t make sense that they’d go back to Dracula after making their move. They could have disappeared in the chaos…and if there’s humans out there conspiring with them….” Her heart sank. “This isn’t over.”


	6. Chapter 6

The room seemed to have dropped a solid ten degrees. Without looking up at Alucard, Trevor continued hastily. “Just…maybe seal this place up a bit. Come with us, maybe…maybe it’ll make you feel better.”  
There was an extremely uncomfortable pause, at then Alucard said in a voice that seemed to radiate cold, “I am not your charity case, Belmont,” twisting the last word in an unpleasant way. “I don’t need you or Sypha…pitying me. I am an adult, and I made my choice. And now, this is my home, and I am asking you to leave.”  
“Dammit, why are you like this?” This was a fine fucking mess. He’d wasted Sypha’s party feeling like a dick that he wasn’t there for Alucard, and now that he was here, Alucard was making him feel like a dick anyway. Should’ve just sat there and drank his fucking mead. But he wasn’t going back like a dog with it’s tail between it’s legs, not without trying, anyway. He sighed.  
“Look, I…I know our situations aren’t the same. But…I know what it’s like to be alone. I saw Sypha there with all her family and I guess I realized that I’m the only one of us who understands that. Completely.” He gestured out the front door at the ruins of the Belmont mansion. That, at least, shut Alucard up. As he looked past Trevor towards the mansion’s husk, his expression softened somewhat, yellow eyes considering. “I dealt with all that alone, and I…told myself that that’s what I wanted. But you know what? It ruined my life and it made me into a shit fucking person, and I…I don’t want that for you, okay?”  
Trevor stopped suddenly, horrified to realize there were tears in his eyes. He blinked quickly and sniffed, but only succeeded in drawing more attention to it. In all the years since the Belmont house had burned, he had never said those words. Not aloud, not even to himself. And now he’d just blurted them out to this jerk half-vampire, who would doubtlessly jump at the opportunity to ridicule him again. But moments passed and Alucard remained silent, until-  
“That is a lie, Belmont.” Trevor looked up angrily-absolutely all of what he’d said had been true, embarrassingly so. But the man in front of him didn’t look like he was teasing. Alucard’s glittering golden eyes were fixed on him with a strange sort of intensity. “You are not a bad person. Don’t…don’t ever say that you are.” And in a move Trevor would never have seen coming in a million years, Alucard stepped forward and placed one thin hand gently on Trevor’s cheek. It wasn’t the icy, dead cold Trevor expected from vampires, just cool and soft, pleasant feeling on the bruises from the recent fight. “I know I have said…cruel things to you, but you…you are so brave, and you try so hard.” He let his hand fall from Trevor’s face and Trevor was surprised to realize that he missed the touch. “I don’t know anything about who your parents were, but I can’t imagine that they would be anything but proud of you.”  
Both men stood in shocked silence. Trevor’s heart felt like it was beating inside his throat instead of his chest. Alucard looked like he was trying to consider his next words carefully.  
“But you are right…Trevor, our situations are not the same.” Trevor’s heart gave a weird little skip at the sound of his first name. It was the first time Alucard hadn’t just called him ‘Belmont’. But Alucard continued, and the strange warmth he had spoken with seemed to be sapped out of his voice with every word. “My mother died as your family did. But my father wasn’t murdered by villagers with torches and pitchforks. I killed him. Me.”  
Alucard’s hand curled into fists by his side and Trevor was surprised to see them shaking. “You know what it’s like to lose your parents. But I know what it feels like to drive a stake into my father’s chest. And I know, I know it had to be done. I feel…guilty even mourning him. With all the people he killed. But it doesn’t change that he was my father. He raised me. He loved me once, before the madness took him. And I…I…” his voice broke.  
Not really sure about what he was doing, Trevor reached out a hand to the man’s shoulders. For a second, it almost seemed to calm Alucard. But then in a flash, a thin pale hand reached out and struck his away. “We are not the same,” said Alucard, his voice so soft Trevor could barely hear him. “You’re alone, Trevor. I’m damned.”  
He backed away from Trevor, shaking his head. Raising his eyes to meet Trevor’s, he gasped out, “Go back to Sypha, Trevor. Please, just…leave me alone.”  
And he turned and left, leaving Trevor stunned and alone in the entrance hall.  
“Well,” he said to no one in particular. “Shit.”


	7. Chapter 7

The situation in Braila was dismal, and while it was mostly Dracula’s fault, it was also, a little bit, Sypha’s. Passing through the city, she heard the talk-how Dracula’s castle had moved erratically from place to place, slamming into buildings and creating tidal waves from the normally calm river. In a way, it had worked in the city’s favor-the waves of holy water had killed many of the night things swarming Braila. But it had also drowned many of Braila’s citizens.  
Speakers were taught to see the world from an objective standpoint-they had to, to reliably retain their stories. And, from an objective standpoint, Sypha knew she could not be blamed for what had happened. If she had not captured Dracula’s castle, he would likely have continued his bloody reign over Wallachia. Many more, including the people of Braila, would have died. For that matter, Braila would have been first on the chopping block with the castle right there on its doorstep. She knew it, and all the other Speakers told her so.  
But she couldn’t stop the pangs of guilt in her heart when she saw the destruction the castle had caused in its attempt to escape her spell. To keep those feelings at bay, she worked constantly to rebuild the city. During the day, she helped in any way she could-pushing back recalcitrant floodwaters, burning fallen buildings so rescuers could access those trapped inside. And when night fell, and the rescue efforts dropped off, she scoured the river for signs of her mysterious betrayer.  
Here and there, buried in the muck, she found things. Armor, similar to that she had seen in Dracula’s castle, filled with the bones of drowned vampires. She didn’t recognize the colors or symbols of the armor, but she studied it carefully, committing the details to memory. Maybe, if Trevor could bring Alucard back-no, there was no maybe. When Alucard came back, Sypha would ask him about it.  
Now that the citizens of Braila had seen her helping with the rescue effort, they were more friendly towards her. Normally, open displays of magic garnered her fear and distrust, but it appeared that even those superstitions could be set aside during a disaster the magnitude of what had happened in Braila. Sypha quietly went from person to person, making easy conversation, trying not to seem too much like she was looking for information. It was from a merchant’s wife, in a hushed whisper, that she first heard it: the night after the castle vanished, a small party of soldiers in silver and black rode through the streets. At their head, said the merchant’s wife, was a beautiful woman clad in red and gold. She looked like a queen, but the people who saw her knew better.  
That was a helpful bit of gossip. Sypha pressed it with a few other people who lived in the area, and each time she heard something new: the woman rode not a horse but an elephant from the far south. She had eyes that glowed like hot coals. She dragged a man in black behind her in chains. She carried Dracula’s head on a pike. It was hard to know what was true and what was gossip (well, Sypha could be reasonably sure that the last one probably wasn’t right), but it sounded like her vampire betrayer…and maybe the human ally who had blessed the river for her? She couldn’t be sure, but it was a start.  
As the days went by, however, fresh leads became fewer and fewer. Sypha, frustrated and alone, spent the night sitting at the edge of the Speaker camp, twirling the mysterious black-and-silver helmet in her hands, waiting for her friends to return.  
“Maybe you should go to them,” said her grandfather, taking a seat on the ground beside her. “From what he said…it didn’t seem like Trevor much got along with this other man. Maybe he needs help convincing him to come back.”  
Sypha chewed her lip. It was a thought that had occurred to her, certainly. The two of them had a talent for antagonizing each other. But…  
“It’s going to sound nonsensical,” she started, pondering her reflection in the helmet. “But I feel almost like Trevor is the only one who can do it. When they argued, before, it didn’t seem like they hated each other. Not really. It was almost like…they were too alike.”  
“I’m more used to hearing about conflict because people are different from each other,” her grandfather replied, chuckling. “How is it that a Belmont and the son of Dracula are too alike?”  
Sypha was quiet for a while. “They’re both…sad. So alone, deep down. But neither one wants to admit it. I think they were each scared the other one would find out.” Her grandfather raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded. She continued. “But if Alucard’s ever going to be okay with what happened to his father, he’s going to have to be honest about it. And he won’t ever be honest with me. Because he likes me, and he doesn’t want to make me upset. So he’d just keep telling me everything was fine. Bet he’d say it on his deathbed.”  
She laughed a little, then sighed. “But I feel like Trevor could force him to tell the truth. Maybe…if they can both be honest with each other. Maybe it can give Alucard a reason to come back.”  
“You’ve grown up to be very wise, my dear,” her grandfather said softly. He turned to her with pride in his eyes, just in time to see that she had put on the (much too large) vampire helmet and was giggling about the fact that she couldn’t see out of it.  
There was a short silence, and then both of them laughed, Sypha’s giggles reverberating in the metal helmet.


	8. Chapter 8

Alucard didn’t return to his father’s study. He found he no longer liked the idea of seeing his mother there. Now that he’d said it out loud, given voice to the fear that he had been damned by his actions, it seemed very real. The next time he saw her, he wondered if she would be accusatory. As she had the right to be, about her murderer son.  
He found himself wandering, his feet taking him to the place he knew he would eventually end up in. His childhood bedroom was a mess, the bed in splinters and the carpet…. The scent of smoke still hung in the air, despite the open window.  
He sat down heavily against the broken footboard, wondering where the Belmont was now. Maybe he’d gotten the message and left. Please just leave, he thought. As Alucard sat there, contemplating it, he started to feel almost angry at the man. How dare he walk back into this place like nothing had happened, just expecting Alucard to leave with him. That had been Trevor’s problem from the start, that goddamn arrogance.  
Alucard remembered how Trevor had been the first time they’d met. So disaffected, so carefully removed from the horror around them. Belmont took such great, elaborate strides to show how little he cared, how above it all he was. Always had to antagonize Alucard, bringing up his father and his failings at every turn like he was trying to prove something. Like Alucard didn’t have enough to deal with. It made him so angry…  
Except…today, Trevor had shown him something real. Dropped that careful fascade of arrogance and apathy. He’d actually even cried. Alucard hadn’t really thought him capable of that. And then, he got an odd thought: he didn’t think he’d ever cried in front of Belmont either. It was so…personal, so vulnerable. And Trevor had done that for him, and then he’d thrown it back in Trevor’s face.  
The anger dissipated and in its place was more guilt. Good. That’s what he should be feeling. If he was just going to hurt everyone around him, then he deserved to know it.  
“We…really made a mess in here, huh?” Alucard’s eyes snapped open. The goddamn Belmont was standing in front of him. As Alucard watched, silently begging the man to leave, Trevor sat down on the floor next to him.  
“Why are you like this, Belmont? Would it trouble you too much to listen to one single thing I say? Do I have to physically throw you out?” Alucard didn’t have the energy to pretend anymore, and his voice sounded tired and exasperated.  
But the other man just sighed. “You know, I really liked it when you called me Trevor. For once it felt like...I don't know. Like we connected instead of just butting heads,” he said, watching Alucard through the corner of his eye. “It makes me realize that I…that I do care about you. A lot. And I can't leave without you.”  
Alucard hadn’t been sick much in his life, thanks to his genetics, but Trevor’s words made him feel faintly nauseous. “I don’t want that. You know I don’t want that.” This conversation had taken an unexpected turn and he didn’t like how close Bel…Trevor was sitting to him, or how familiar his words were getting. “Nothing about how you feel about me…or how I feel about you…changes what I did here. Loving you...isn't something I deserve after what I did.”


	9. Chapter 9

Trevor sat in a sort of stunned silence. Had Alucard just told him he loved him? For that matter, had he just told Alucard the same?  
This whole practice of…feeling things and talking about them was a muscle Trevor didn’t often exercise. Hell, during some of his worst times, when he was deep in depression or the church had caught his scent, he went weeks or months without talking to other humans. Living on the outskirts of society had been hard, but at the moment he was sure he’d rather be in the middle of the Wallachian wilderness chewing on tree bark than in this room, trying to make sense of what was going on. He had a thought that Alucard might be feeling the same way.  
But he needed to toughen up. No way in hell was he going to let Alucard go down the same dark road he had. It was much, much more than just pity. If Trevor was being honest with himself, Alucard…made him happy. Sure, he was insufferable at times, and a truly unfair amount of pretty, but Trevor had found in the short time he was with the caravan that he missed Alucard’s presence. It was comforting, quiet but steady. He was alone, but not lonely. He was going to fight to keep that, even if he didn’t know how. Maybe it was time for some trademark Belmont stupidity.  
“I can tell you one thing about your father that changes it for me,” he said, deciding it was best to just dive in and hope Alucard didn’t kill him. “I think your father was a rotten piece of shit from the get-go. I don’t think you owe that narcissistic asshole a thing.”  
That seemed to snap Alucard awake. He rounded on Trevor, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. “How dare you,” he hissed. “You know nothing about my father. He was…he was good once…”  
“Prove it,” scoffed Trevor. “Prove he ever gave a flying shit for you. Tell me one good, loving thing he ever did for you and I’ll eat my words.”  
Alucard was silent for a while. Trevor could see the dhampir studying him in the darkness, trying to figure out what he was doing. Finally, he reached across Trevor to a wooden chest beside the bed, and pulled out a soft stuffed wolf.  
“When I was a child, my parents didn’t know quite what to expect from me. Dhampir are rare you see, and they didn’t know what, if any powers I would manifest. So when I was very young, they kept me inside the castle. They didn’t want me getting into trouble. I understand that now, but at the time, it made me so lonely, and so angry. Then one night, when the moon was full, I discovered I could transform for the first time. Into a wolf-well, more like a puppy. In that form, I could easily escape the castle, and I did.  
I ran all night. It felt so good to be out. And I thought, what was the harm of passing close to a village-getting to see someone who wasn’t my parents?” He sighed, and Trevor had an unpleasant feeling he knew what was about to happen next. “I found some children playing. I thought I’d join in. But they just saw a wolf, come to snatch them away. They called for their parents, and the hunters came after me. I was so scared I forgot how to turn back into a human, forgot how to return to the castle. I ran blindly through the woods, and fell down a ravine, where I broke my leg. I felt sure that I would die there, and that it was all my fault for disobeying my parents.  
But my father had searched all night for me, and he found my scent and carried me back home. He was so upset…he was shaking. But he didn’t get angry at me. He said it was his fault for not teaching me how to use my powers, and not letting me go outside. After that, he took the time to show me everything he knew, whether I could do it or not. When the moon was full, we ran together as wolves. And when it wasn’t…he made this for me. To remind me that he would always be there for me.” Alucard stared at the wolf toy, seemingly having forgotten why he was telling the story in the first place.  
“Wow,” said Trevor. “Well, color me surprised. He sounds like a great guy, at least he was before he went completely insane. Say, I feel like a father like that, who really loved you, wouldn’t hate you now. I feel like he’d understand what you did, and want to apologize to you.”  
Alucard looked up in surprise, but not necessarily disbelief, so Trevor pressed on. “You can’t have it both ways, Alucard. Maybe your father really does hate you for saving the world from him-if he does, he's an evil shit and you should forget about him. But if you're right, and he really did care about you...I can't see him not forgiving you. I can't see the guy that made that for you ever wanting you to be here, punishing yourself like this." “What am I supposed to do then?” Alucard turned back to him. “Where do I go from here?”  
“Well,” Trevor mumbled. “I like to think your parents would want you to be happy. Like they were.”  
“Like…they were…?” Alucard asked, looking back at him with those strangely intense yellow eyes. Trevor nodded, and, without entirely planning out the action, leaned forward and kissed him. Alucard’s skin felt cold, but alive, and for a second Trevor could almost feel that warm glow between them.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh...I thought I was done with this fic but the space in between chapter 9 and 10 just kept bugging me. I wanted a little more interaction between Alucard and Trevor before they reached Braila.

They held the kiss for a few seconds, Trevor’s heart pounding in his chest, and then Alucard abruptly pulled away.  
“Wh-what’s wrong?” Trevor stuttered out. Fuck, this situation was so delicate, and his impulse decision to kiss Alucard may have only thrown things off again. The man next to him looked down, long hair obscuring his face. Softly, tentatively, he whispered, “Is this really what you want?”  
Trevor was about to say something snippy at that-despite what Alucard might say, Trevor was a goddamn adult and could make his own decisions. But Alucard continued. “Is this…pity? Are you pretending? Because if you are, you have to tell me now. I can’t…”  
Trevor cut him off. “How could you think…alright, look. I know I’m not good at this romance business.” That was true. There had been men before, but not really lovers. In his time wandering Wallachia, he’d had a number of desperate, lonely trysts in the towns he’d passed through, with men who he knew he’d never see again. Sometimes to feel less alone, sometimes just so he’d have a warm place to sleep for the night. But he never stayed long in one place. “I’ve never…wanted to stay with someone before. Wanted them to stay with me. But you, you’re different. I’m not leaving here without you, and that’s because I. Don’t. Want. To. Understand?”  
Trevor put his hand on the back of Alucard’s neck and pulled the dhampir back towards him. Alucard was a good bit stronger than him and could pretty easily have resisted, but he let himself be pulled until his head rested on Trevor’s chest. Trevor’s heart skipped a little at the feeling, but Alucard didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he leaned in further, burying his face in Trevor’s shirt. Without really making a conscious decision to, Trevor raised a hand and started to run it gently through Alucard’s hair. It was soft as silk, and the strands falling through his fingers glowed like molten gold in the moonlight. They sat like that for a while-whether it was a few minutes or a few hours, Trevor wasn’t sure-until Alucard spoke again. “What is it you want me to do, Trevor?”  
“Wait…are you saying you’ll actually do what I tell you to do for once?” Trevor tried to put a joking lightness in his voice, and he was rewarded with a very tiny, very weak chuckle. That was good. Any happiness he could give Alucard was good. But it was a serious question. “I want you to come with me. Seal this place up. Leave it alone for a while. I don’t…I don’t know what’s out there. But it’s better than here. And I…want you to be with me. So…yeah. That’s that,” he finished a little lamely. It was true he hadn’t put a lot of thought into what would happen if he actually got Alucard out of the castle-until this point, he hadn’t know for sure that he would be able to at all.  
“Would it…” began a soft voice from the man pressed to his chest. “Would it be okay if we stayed like this? Just for a while?”  
Trevor stuttered a little bit at that, but then put his arms around Alucard. “Yeah,” he replied. “That’ll be fine.”


	11. Chapter 11

It was Trevor’s stomach growling that broke their reverie. Alucard snapped back to reality. It surprised how comfortable he’d been-he’d almost fallen asleep, he thought, for the first time since he’d been in the tomb in Gresit. Lying there, listening to Trevor’s slow and steady heart beat, with his hands running through Alucard’s hair…it had felt so inviting. But he stood up quickly, Trevor looking up at him in confusion. Alucard smoothed his shirt down with his hands and tried tor bring the steadiness back into his voice.  
“I can’t leave this place open if I won’t be here. There’s…locks, defensive spells I can put up. Keep it from falling into the hands of another demon or vampire lord while we’re gone.” Trevor nodded at that, like the idea had only just occurred to him. “You…get something to eat. I’ll be done with this soon.” He turned, then paused with his hand on the doorframe. “I’ll leave with you. I promise. Wait for me in the entrance hall.”  
He could tell Trevor wasn’t happy with that, but it was the truth. Dracula’s castle was a trove of magic and science, and he wouldn’t leave it to be plundered. Even if he was abandoning it.  
Alucard ran to the engine room, which still bore the destructive marks of Sypha’s spell. He passed the half-melted gears and carefully sidestepped the crater in the middle of the pathway. Where only a few nights ago, his father had held him down and bashed his head into the stone, over and over…  
Trevor was right. He needed to leave this place.  
At the end of the room stood a stone pedestal, and floating above that was a black metal sphere. It turned gently on its axis, but every so often, a crackle of blue electricity ran across its surface. Sypha had really done a number on it. Alucard wondered the castle would ever be able to move again-he had no idea how to fix it. It didn’t really matter, though. The engine had other abilities. Taking it in his hands, Alucard used his long nails to carve glyphs into its surface. He wasn’t completely sure how it worked, but he knew enough about his father’s magic to guess. With a hiss, the glyphs glowed and the sphere began to turn again. As Alucard watched, the window in front of him darkened, the glass turning to iron in front of his eyes. Not perfect, but it would do. When they left, the castle would seal behind him and only open again at his touch.  
True to his word, Trevor was sitting in the entrance hall, anxiously chewing on a piece of beef jerky and tapping his foot on the ground. The look of relief on his face when he saw Alucard return made his heart beat faster. He really…Trevor really did want this.  
Alucard stopped a few feet from him, remembering suddenly. “The hold,” he sighed. “We can’t leave it open to the air.” He stepped back into the throne room, looking up at the empty chair. And then his eyes continued, up the huge red tapestries behind it. Rich, heavy cloth bearing the seal of the house of Tepes. Leaping up to them, he grabbed one and tore it from its moorings, then carried the giant cloth out of the castle. Trevor looked at in confusion, then laughed.  
“Seal of Dracula, protecting the Belmont hold,” he laughed. Then he gave a shrewd look to Alucard. “Are you alright with that? I know…you didn’t like that place.”  
Alucard nodded silently as he unfurled the tapestry over the whole in the ground. It was true that being in the Belmont hold had made his skin prickle. But that had had more to do with him than the place itself. Standing there among the trappings of vampire hunters had only served to remind him of the dark task ahead. Now that it was over…he could appreciate more the help the Belmont family had given them. When his task was over, he looked out at the tapestry with a bit of pride.  
“It won’t keep it perfectly safe,” he sighed. “But at least it will give your family’s work some protection while we’re gone.”  
“It needs a house over it,” said Trevor suddenly. Alucard turned to see the other man looking at the ruins with a strange, wistful expression. Silently, he reached out and grabbed Trevor’s hand, feeling the warmth of his human skin. Trevor looked surprised, then smiled. “You ready to go?”  
Alucard nodded. “Where is the wagon?”  
At that Trevor flinched and gave him an embarrassed look. “When I was coming here…well, I wanted to get here as fast as possible. So…I left the wagon and one of the horses with the Speakers.” And as they left the ruins of the mansion, Alucard could see the one horse tied up outside. He hummed softly at that. “I suppose we’ll just have to ride together then.”  
Trevor grunted, getting up on the saddle before offering a hand to Alucard. Alucard didn’t need it, but he took it anyway, climbing onto the horse behind the Belmont. He wrapped his arms around Trevor’s waist, smiling when he heard the man's human heart quicken.  
“We’ll…we’ll have to go slower, since it’s the two of us,” Trevor stuttered out. But Alucard just smiled as he leaned forward against the hunter’s back. It was warm and comfortable, and for the first time in days, he let himself sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

The horse trotted slowly along the dirt road to Braila. Normally, Trevor hated travelling at this pace-if he had a horse he wanted to use it properly, goddamnit-but Alucard’s arms around his waist and the feel of his soft breath as he slept against Trevor's back made the trip a lot more enjoyable. Ahead, Trevor could see the tips of the blue Speaker’s tents in the morning light. They were almost home.  
He stopped the horse and the motion roused Alucard from his sleep. He looked at Trevor, and then followed his gaze to a figure lying by the side of the road. “Well,” he said in an amused voice, “I didn’t know Speakers kept scarecrows.”  
“I didn’t know scarecrows snored so loud,” replied Trevor. He looked down at the little figure by the path, clad in blue robes with a giant silver helmet obscuring its face. It leaned against a tree and soft snoring echoed from within the metal. “OI, SYPHA!” he roared and the figure jumped to life, tearing off the helmet and gathering a ball of flames into its fist. Sypha blinked blearily at them, and then her face brightened as recognition dawned in her eyes. She extinguished the flames and punched Trevor lightly in the side.  
“You leave me forever and then this is how you greet me?” she said, but her tone was playful. She turned to Alucard. “I’m so glad you came back. I hope this fool didn’t give you too much trouble.”  
Alucard looked back at Trevor and smiled. “Just enough trouble,” he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnnnnd that's where I'm going to stop it, so I can pretend that season 3 will pick up here. Hope you all enjoyed, let me know if you did.


End file.
